And It Rained Vending Machines
by AmenziliaPoppy
Summary: [ShizuoxOC (Yuuka)] Shizuo Heiwajima is the strongest man in Ikebukuro, but can he survive the bad luck brought by a bright eyed teenager named Yuuka Fukashima?
1. Chapter 1: Poetry

**Author's Note:**

Starting my first multi-chapter fanfic. This is a story between Shizuo from Durarara! and an OC of mine (no yaoi). Hope everybody likes it, and I love feedback, so if you have any suggestions, or just want to say what you liked and what you didn't, feel free to comment! I love Durarara! and Shizuo is personally my favorite character from the series. I want to do him justice. :)

**Chapter 1**

**Poetry**

_Stop signs are red,_

_ATM's blue_

_Please stop throwing things,_

_Or else I'll cut you_

_ -With Love, Izaya Orihara_

Shizuo Heiwajima held a small piece of paper in one hand and a brand new, unlit cigarette in the other. As his eyes scanned the paper and grew progressively more narrow in anger, the cigarette bent farther out of shape until it broke in half and was hurled suddenly to the ground. A formal black dress shoe lifted above it and ground it into the concrete.

"…IIIIIIzzzzaayyaaaaaaaaaa~" A whisper crossed his lips, to the pace of his quickly beating heart as he scanned the streets in search of a certain black haired information broker.

Shizuo hadn't been expecting much when he found the note attached to a box of strawberries on his front door step. He didn't really get mail, so it had come as a slight surprise, but Izaya's cliché attempt at poetry was a bit much.

He hadn't even gotten a chance to light his cigarette before the day had found some way to piss him off. Now somebody was going to get public property thrown at him and it wasn't going to be Shizuo's fault.

The blonde formally dressed man stormed down the road, paper in hand. He vaguely recognized a restaurant owner known as Simon as he crossed the street. However, blinded by hatred, he hardly heard the words, "Eat at Russia's Sushi! It cheap! You like it!" as they echoed in one ear and out the other. Celty, the headless rider of Ikebukuro, rode by on her roaring motorcycle, just noticing Shizuo before she passed. She gave him a quick wave but he didn't see her. Nor did he see Shinra as he walked down the street a few minutes later, calling Celty's name. When Shinra tried to talk to Shizuo and ask if he'd seen the girl, he didn't stop but continued to march along the sidewalk, his body hunched slightly forward, the crumpled note in his left hand, his eyes squinted behind a pair of blue shades.

Shizuo Heiwajima was blind to the world. The only thing keeping his composure was the realization that there was no way he could kick Izaya's ass if he was locked in the back of a squad car for destroying public property. He had to kick ass first, and worry about being arrested later.

That was all that was circling in Shizuo's mind until suddenly his march came to an abrupt stop. He hesitated, lifting his nose to the air and taking in a deep breath, his face wrinkling up with disgust. "Smells like shit…"

He felt a tap on his shoulder. "Good morning, Shizu-chan. I thought it was a nice day for a walk, too. Imagine that."

Shizuo spun around. The only thing leading him was his fist, which would have barreled into Izaya Orihara's face had it not been for the info broker's supreme reflexes. Suddenly he was behind Shizuo again, leaving the blonde to swivel his head back and forth in search.

"I'm right here, Shizu-chan."

Shizuo saw movement and punched blindly at the air once more. "_Izaya_!" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh my, are we in a mood today." Said Izaya. His face was suddenly leaning over Shizuo's right shoulder, the grin of a Cheshire cat spreading across his lips. "Maybe a game will cheer you up. It's called 'Find the Guy with the Big, Shiny Knife!'"

Shizuo reached for the nearest road sign and tore it from the ground like a pitiful daisy, swinging it like he was in the middle of a game of baseball. As he spun around, he caught sight of his target, this time brandishing a small switchblade.

"Izaya, _you're dead_!" He swung the road sign back and forth, taking big steps in Izaya's direction. He thought he might actually hit him this time when, out of nowhere, a bright light filled his eyes, followed by the click of a camera.

Shizuo was blinded as the flashing light went out. He lost control of the sign in his hands and it flew out of his hands, hitting a wall to his right and leaving an indentation in the brick where it had hit. He blinked, trying to see, and staggered back a step or two.

A few feet away, a young teenaged girl stood, a camera in her hands, the strap wrapped around her neck. Her mouth bore little expression, but her eyes were wide with interest.

Izaya, who had been momentarily stopped in his tracks, turned to look at her. He grinned, a laugh escaping his lips. "Shizu-chan, you didn't tell me you had fans."

Shizuo shook his head, blinking. He saw nothing but white for several long seconds.

"That wasn't nice." Izaya strode towards Shizuo, his knife in hand, and waved it back and forth in front of Shizuo's face, using Shizuo's temporary lack of vision to his advantage. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's give her a show to remember."

His hand pulled back and swept across Shizuo's chest, tearing his bartender's suit open and staining it with blood.

The girl blinked, mesmerized.

Izaya turned to her, smiling. "How was that, young lady?" He looked back at Shizuo, who looked down as if he'd just noticed the gash in his chest.

"Y-You…" The girl stammered.

"This…this was…" Shizuo said, speaking up.

Izaya turned his attention back to Shizuo. "Oh, Shizu-chan, you have ten just like it. I'm sure it wasn't a loss."

"…was given to me…by my brother."

For sixty seconds, all hell broke loose. Shizuo looked like he was ready to pound Izaya's face in, and while Izaya dodged every one of Shizuo's blows, the girl watched silently. Whether she was silenced by shock or curiosity only she knew. Only when she realized what Izaya was doing did she snap out of her trance.

Slowly Izaya was luring Shizuo towards open traffic. He took a step back in the direction of the rushing cars every couple seconds until he was on the edge of the sidewalk, and then waited for Shizuo to take the bait.

"Sir, watch out!" She called at the last second, as Shizuo swung his fist in Izaya's direction, just slightly too fast to stop himself as Izaya leapt into the air. Shizuo's eyes went slightly wide. He tripped over the curb and turned, stumbling into the line of a bus. The bus driver yelled something inaudible through the windshield. It was too close for Shizuo to react or do anything, really, besides spit his cigarette out and curse in Izaya's general direction.

Izaya flipped to the ground, safely on the sidewalk, and saluted as the sound of screeching metal met flesh. There was the sickening sound of a bus horn and then the sound of a warm body hitting the road. Bus wheels ran over glass and something else.

The girl's eyes went wide. She turned to see where the sneaky info broker had gone but he was nowhere to be found.

She was sure that the blonde man was dead. She had heard a few rumors about him, yes, but how could anyone survive a hit like that?

…had she been the cause of this? I mean, it had been her camera flash that had blinded him. But it wasn't her fault that the black haired man he'd been fighting had drawn him into the street like that.

Never the less, she ran into the road, where the bus and five or six of the cars behind it had come to a halt. The bus driver came running out of the bus, his face pale and his hands shaking. He ran up to her and she found that his hands were on her shoulders. "Oh man…oh man…oh man…" He muttered, looking up at her. "Do y-you know him?"

She looked past the driver at the front of the bus, peeking under it. She saw a tuft of blonde hair and, looking closer, a hand that was shadowed by the underside of the bus.

Her face was once again expressionless. She took a deep breath and gulped, preparing herself to speak to this man. He grabbed her arm again and shook her. "Miss?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't." She said, giving him an icy stare.

He didn't expect him to be alive, either.

The road filled with people. Most of them came streaming out of the bus. A few came from the cars stopped behind it. All of them were asking questions. Somebody raised their hand and pushed through the crowd. "Excuse me! I'm a doctor! Maybe I can help!"

The bus driver nodded anxiously. "Please." He turned back to the girl. "W-What was your name, miss?"

She fingered her camera, feeling a horrible feeling sink into her stomach. "Yuuka Fukashima, but that's irrelevant."

The doctor started giving orders immediately. He and a couple of other people helped pull the blonde man out from under the bus. They each hooked a hand under his arms and dragged him a few feet into the open. It was only then that the full extent of his injuries were visible. Not counting the gash in his chest, he was bleeding from his abdomen where the twisted metal of the bus's bumper had dug into his stomach. The metal had been miss-shaped, it looked like by Shizuo's own hand in an attempt to save himself.

The girl, Yuuka, gulped. This had been her doing, she was sure of it. She had killed Shizuo Heiwajima, the strongest man in Ikebukuro with the power of photography.

The doctor looked up at her, frowning at the expression on her face. "Are you a relative or something?" He asked, responding to how shaken up she looked.

"N-No…" She whispered. "I'm…just…" Her eyes went wide suddenly. She stopped breathing. No, it wasn't possible.

"What?" The doctor asked.

She lifted a finger to the blonde man in the bartender's uniform silently.

Shizuo's expression went to the slackened face of a dead man to a slight frown. His head tossed to the right, as if he was waking up from a bad dream. Yuuka felt her knees go weak. She knelt down next to the man called Shizuo Heiwajima, breathing out. His eyes snapped open. His slightly glazed eyes took her in, and his expression quickly slanted into a glare.

"So the rumors are true…" She whispered. "You really are invincible."

He winced, baring his teeth at the sky and lifting a bloody hand that had been resting on his stomach to his face, staining his forehead with blood as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "You again…why are you still here?"

"I…" She hesitated. "I…"  
"Sorry, but I don't have time to chat. I have to go kill someone."

Everyone in the crowd went deathly silent as Shizuo Heiwajima got to his legs shakily and regained his balance. He put a hand on the hood of the bus and surveyed the indentation of his body on its grill.

"Mr. Heiwajima, sir…" Yuuka protested. "Are you alright?"

He frowned. "Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. Why the hell wouldn't I be?"

She looked at the bus. Its yellow paint was marred by a streak of red.

The doctor ran to Shizuo's side, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sir, you shouldn't be going anywhere. I…I can't believe you're even standing up right now! You need to be taken to a hospital immediately."

He flinched as Shizuo reversely put his hand on the doctor's arm. He tightened his grip. "Believe me. I'd love to. But there's a certain person that I know who has to die, so if you'll kindly excuse me…"

The doctor reluctantly let Shizuo free, or rather he backed away, afraid. Shizuo looked around him, apparently trying to figure out where Izaya had gone. He was about to just leave, but he hesitated. Yuuka stared at him. "M-Mr. Heiwajima…?"

Shizuo put a hand to his face and blinked confusedly. Silently, he turned around and looked down. About three dozen bystanders watched in shock as Shizuo took a few steps forward, bent down and picked a pair of blue sunglasses off of the ground. He bent them back into a reasonable shape and forced them on. They fit on his face crookedly, the stained blue glass broken in ten different places. How he was even able to see through them Yuuka didn't know.

She lifted a hand to stop him but he ignored her, sticking his hands into his pockets and stepping onto the sidewalk. He hesitated one last time. Shizuo's eyes closed for the briefest moment, as if feeling slightly dizzy, and then he shook his head and started down the sidewalk.

Yuuka Fukashima, though she knew it was probably a bad idea, shook her head in unison and followed after the bloody, blonde haired man, leaving behind a shocked doctor, bus driver and between 30-40 stunned witnesses.


	2. Chapter 2: Cousin Shinra

Here's chapter 2! I'm posting this story (along with my other fanfictions) on my tumblr account, if you're interested. Visit my blog, Writing Otaku, at: : / / zumester3rd . tumblr

I'm also doing writing requests. The details are on Writing Otaku. Thanks!~

**Chapter 2**

**Cousin Shinra**

Yuuka followed a couple of yards behind Shizuo until they were well out of sight of the car crash. She acted like she knew him, which bothered Shizuo. When she caught up with him and started trotting at his side like a lost puppy, he resolved to ignore the young girl's existence, in the hopes that she'd give up whatever weird mission she was on and walk away.

But she didn't. Instead, she walked beside him for about a block, her head facing straight in front of her, her eyes with a borderline uninterested glaze to them. And just when he thought she had gotten bored, she suddenly reached her hand out and put it on his shoulder.

It was a stretch for her. She was noticeably shorter than Shizuo—but only as much as most people were. The feel of her hand on his shoulder caused him to stop and turn around slowly, his bangs hanging in his slightly bloody face. "What?"

The look on her face surprised him a little. She had seemed much more lively before. There had been worry in her eyes. Now there was no emotion at all. "Mr. Heiwajima, are you alright?"

"Why is that any of your business?" He asked, sneering at her. He adjusted his cracked sunglasses angrily and started to turn around.

"Well, I'm merely asking because at this point in time, our two goals seem to converge."

He flinched. She must be insane. What was wrong with this girl? Not long ago she had been hovering over him like she thought he was dead, and now she spoke like some sort of undersized government agent.

"You need a doctor. I need to find my cousin. He also happens to be a doctor. He can help you."

He lifted his hand to her, shooing her away as he started on down the sidewalk. "I guess I should thank you for your concern," he said, too tired to tell her off like he wanted to, "but you should now I've never been one for hospitals."

She didn't move, just stood, her hands at her sides, the camera hanging around her neck. "That shouldn't be a problem. My cousin works at no hospital. You see, his work isn't exactly…legal."

Shizuo stopped.

"Nobody has to know you were treated at all, if that's what you're worried about. My cousin works underground. He can keep a secret better than you ever could."

Why was she suddenly so cold? What was this girl's deal? Really at this point, all Shizuo wanted was to go home and sleep on his sofa until this pounding headache of his went away and the dizziness subsided, but instead of leaving, he stopped and turned around. His glasses flashed in Yuuka's face. Anyone else would have hesitated under his threatening glare. She didn't so much as flinch.

"Who is your cousin?"  
She looked up suddenly, as if sensing something in Shizuo had changed. She suddenly looked curious, innocent again. "Um, well, I've never actually met the man in person, but I'm supposed to be moving in with him. I got a letter of invitation from my uncle about it, so I know he's expecting me…he goes by Shinra Kishitani, but I doubt you've ever heard of him, what with his job and all."

Shizuo's eyes went wide. "You know Shinra?" He asked slowly.

She frowned. "_You_ know Shinra? So you think you could help me find his house?"

He slowly took in the implications of what this girl was saying. In Heinz sight, it was true that he should probably see a doctor for the gash in his side…I mean, all this blood loss couldn't be good for him, he reasoned. And couldn't he just kill to birds with one stone (get rid of this stupid headache, and this annoying girl at the same time) if he led her to Shinra like she wanted?

After a long several minutes, he stopped, sighed and nodded slowly in the general direction of Shinra's apartment building, which was downtown. He started giving instructions but was startled when Yuuka's eyes lit up and she ran over to him, grabbing him by the sleeve and pulling him along in the indicated direction. "I knew you could help me!" She said excitedly. "Come on!"

"Hey!" He pulled away easily. "I didn't say I was going to be your private escort."

"But you should go let my cousin patch you up, too." She pouted. "Come on…please come with me."

He glared.

Yuuka eyed his injuries with a worried look. To his confusion, she stepped forward and ran a hand down his side, next to where the gash had caused blood to soak through his bartender's uniform. He didn't move. He didn't respond to the pain. "I bet that hurts." She said slowly. "Not that I know anything about the human body, but I can't say you look in very good shape right now, Mr. Heiwajima. I'd hate to see anything bad happen to you because of your refusal to visit a doctor."

He muttered something under his breath, his hands in fists.

"Besides, if you know my cousin, Shinra, it'll be more like visiting a friend than going to the doctor, right?"

"…whatever, kid. But I'm going because you really shouldn't be walking alone in a city like this." Shizuo growled. "There are some pretty questionable characters in Ikebukuro." He said, thinking about Izaya briefly. He gritted his teeth. "Don't you know it's not safe to talk to strangers?"

"What, you mean like you?" She said, falling into line next to him.

"Like me."

"I wouldn't call you a stranger. You're more like a friend that I haven't happened to meet face to face yet. I've heard a lot about you all over Ikebukuro since I got here several days ago, you know."

He flinched. "Yeah…I guess you would have."

Yuuka knocked on the door to Shinra Kishitani's apartment noisily. Her foot tapped in impatience as she glanced behind her at Shizuo. He was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, not saying anything. Yuuka had to admit, she was worried, although if just hitting that bus head on didn't kill him immediately, she doubted he'd drop dead now of all times. Besides, it didn't matter, they had found a doctor. If only she could get him to answer the door.

"Cousin Shinra!" She called, banging on the door harder. "Open the door!"

There was the sound of padding feet and the opening and closing of doors. "I'm coming, I'm coming~" a singsong voice answered. A minute later, a man of medium height, frayed brown hair and a lab coat opened the door. He looked first at Yuuka and offered a slightly confused smile. "Hello, who are y—" And then he saw Shizuo. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Shizuo! What happened!"

"I thought you said you knew him." Shizuo said, looking up slowly at Yuuka.

Yuuka fiddled with her fingers. "I didn't say he knew my face."

Shinra ran past Yuuka and put a hand on Shizuo's shoulder. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

Shizuo looked up, scrubbing a hand down his face tiredly. "I had a confrontation. With a bus."

"A bus?!"

"And Izaya."

Shinra was silent.

"Um…S-Shinra?"

The young doctor looked over at Yuuka, as he helped Shizuo inside. "Who's this?" He said to Shizuo.

"She says she's your cousin…" Shizuo slurred.

"What?"

Yuuka spoke up, feeling very out of the loop. "I'm Yuuka Fukashima. You and I are cousins, Shinra. My parents made contact with my uncle—your father—and he said that you lived in Ikebukuro and could offer me a place to stay while I attended RaikaAcademy. I'm going to be a junior there." She spoke in a smaller and smaller voice as she went on, waiting for a look of recognition spark to Shinra's face, a smile at the least. But no such thing happened. She followed, suddenly looking very timid, as Shinra struggled to help Shizuo onto the sofa of his living room. Shizuo collapsed, putting an arm over his face and closing his eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Shinra finally said, shaking his head. "You say my dad told you all this?"

"Yes."

Finally he smiled, but it wasn't reassuring, because the next thing out of his mouth was, "Well than I'm not surprised. My dad has a habit of making arrangements for me without checking in with me first."

Yuuka's eyes widened. "…I…I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought you would be expecting me." She shook her head, staring at the ground. "Oh, this is a mess. I'm sorry for intruding on you. I just don't know what to do." She looked to the door.

Shinra frowned. "Hey, where are _you_ going?"

"I mean, you didn't—"

"You have nowhere else to stay, do you?"

She looked around, conflicted. It was only right to leave, before things got more awkward. She had been wrong not to call ahead and check with Shinra himself before just showing up at his front door. It was her fault. She had caused this situation. But…he looked at her with these kind eyes that made her want to stay very badly.

"I…well, I don't…"

Shinra smiled warmly at her. "Yuuka, right? We may have never met in person before today, but I've heard a lot about you. And who am I to turn away a girl in a strange city with no home? We're family. Come on in."  
She stared in shock. "You'd just do that for me?"

He grinned. "How old are you?"

"17."

"You wouldn't be old enough to get an apartment on your own, even if you had the money, which I doubt. Where else would you go?"

"I…I…"

"Sit down. I have to take care of this guy here." He said, pointing to Shizuo on the sofa.

When a speechless Yuuka had taken a seat in one of the other chairs in the living room, she watched as Shinra sat down beside Shizuo. "Now…" He said to her, not looking up. "tell me how you met Shizuo."

She watched Shizuo put a hand on Shizuo's chest, nudging him slightly. Shizuo was unconscious, as evident by his limp arms and the blank expression on his face. Shizuo gently took his sunglasses off and put Shizuo's arms to his sides with a caring doctor's touch. That made Yuuka feel a little better about earlier.

"Well…I originally had your address, but I lost it at some point and was trying to find your apartment on my own when I ran into Shizuo fighting with this black haired man. I don't know who he is, or why they were at each other like that. But while Shizuo's actions were led by emotion—namely, his hatred—the other man was thinking ahead and managed to lead Shizuo into the road. This bus hit him."

Shinra nodded, opening the front of Shizuo's shirt to reveal his injuries.

"I thought for sure he was dead. But, you see, I was also curious…I'd heard that Shizuo Heiwajima was invincible. He could pull street signs from the concrete, lift cars, even. When I saw him fighting and realized it was him, I wanted to see what would happen. And when it turned out he wasn't dead…well, I just followed him here."

"You're lucky, then. The man you're talking about, Izaya Orihara—Shizuo's fights with him are usually much more violent than this. I'm surprised Shizuo isn't messed up more than he is."

Yuuka didn't like the sound of that. She got a bitter look on her face and started fiddling with her hands. "Maybe he should be more careful."

"Hah. That's like telling a canon to change course after it's been fired."

Yuuka leaned forward and watched Shinra as he cleaned Shizuo's wound and started to bandage it up. "So he's going to be okay?"

"Shizuo's always okay."

"Do you promise?"

Shinra laughed. "I promise. I'll finish up here, Shizuo will rest up for a while and when he wakes, he'll be good as new. Won't even have a limp."

Her eyes were wide. "He must really hate Izaya Orihara."

Shinra got a reminiscent look on his face before nodding. "There's a very long list of things in the world that Shizuo hates, but Izaya is at the top of it."


	3. Chapter 3: Shinra's Favor

**Chapter 3**

**Shinra's Favor**

A half an hour later, Yuuka was sitting on a chair she had pulled up to the edge of the sofa, and she was playing with Shizuo's hand as he lay there, passed out. There was a slight blush on his face due to a fever he'd developed since collapsing on Shinra's sofa, and the expression on his sleeping face was one that suggested discomfort or irritation, but as Shinra put it, that was an expression he never took off. So it was nothing for Yuuka to worry about.

Still, she sat by the sofa, not moving from his side. When Shinra asked her why she didn't leave and at least get something to eat, she simply replied in saying, "Well, it's kind of my fault that he's in this state, so it's my responsibility to watch over him until I'm sure he's okay."

And when Shinra asked why, by any stretch of the imagination, it would be her fault, she just sighed and turned back to Shizuo's sleeping form and said, "Shizuo isn't really the kind that likes to have his picture taken, is he?"

Eventually, it got to be around 7 at night and Shizuo still hadn't woken up. Yuuka started to feel her head droop forward. Her eyes slipped closed. She blinked, just catching herself before she started to fall. She shook her head. She couldn't fall asleep yet. Shizuo was still out cold. She had made him her responsibility when she decided to take a picture of him mid-fight. She had made it her responsibility when she hadn't though to consider that maybe Shizuo didn't respond well to camera flash.

But despite her efforts, Yuuka found that she couldn't keep herself awake any longer. It had been a long day and she was exhausted after everything that had happened. She started to lean forward drowsily and finally yawned and slumped into Shizuo's side. Her arms fell limply across his chest and her face snuggled in-between his side and his right arm.

Shinra walked into the room. "Hey, Yuuka, I was thinking that…" He stopped and looked at her still form on top of Shizuo's. "Are you awake?" There was no answer. "I guess not…" he said, a small smile spreading on his face. Turning around and coming back with a blanket in his arms, he spread it, half over her, half over Shizuo.

If he had seen this sight a day ago, he wouldn't have believed it possible. And when Shizuo woke up, he'd probably just shake her off and pretend it hadn't happened. I mean, he hardly knew this girl. But he had to appreciate how nice she was to stay with him like this when she had just met him that morning. It really was a sweet sight.

Shinra was sitting in an armchair, reading through a medical book when Celty Sturlson walked through the door. She sighed and stepped into the room, not really paying attention to what was going on, as there was rarely anything to pay attention to, living with only Shinra. She had started to take her helmet off when Shinra looked up, startled, and whispered, "Celty!" in a hushed tone.

She glanced at him, hands still on her helmet. He motioned for her to leave it on. At first Celty didn't understand why, but then he pointed to the sofa. She jumped a little to see two people on it.

Just patients, she assumed. Until she realized it was Shizuo lying there, with….a girl. If Celty had had a face, it would have displayed shock.

"What's going on?" She typed onto her phone, thrusting it into Shinra's face.

"Shizuo got into a fight with Izaya." Whispered Shinra casually, not getting up.

Celty typed furiously. "You know what I'm talking about. Who _is_ she?"

"My cousin." He replied simply. She jabbed him in the side, forcing a stifled groan out of him. "C-Celty, please…it's the truth."

"You never told me you had a cousin."

"Well, she lived across Japan until now. I didn't think it was necessary."

"You didn't think it was necessary to tell me we were having company?" Celty stared at the way Yuuka was lying on Shizuo, utterly confused.

"I didn't know. My dad set it up."

"Does she know Shizuo?" Celty asked, as if the sight of them there on Shinra's sofa was unnatural, which it kind of was.

"She does now. She was the one who brought him here." When Celty just stood there, staring at him, Shinra shook his head and smiled. "It's a long story."

"What am I supposed to do, Shinra?" She typed. "Wear this helmet day and night? She can't stay here."

Wary of another jab in the ribs from his headless friend, Shinra smiled and shrugged. "I can't just turn her out on the street, Celty."

"Well do something with her." Celty typed, sounding more like a moody teenager than an immortal fairy from Celtic folklore. "Or I will."

Shinra got up, grabbing her arm. "C-Celty, wait!"

"What?" She glared.

"Well…what if she just went home with Shizuo?"

Celty tilted her head at Shinra, uncomprehending. She ignored the fact that his hand was still tightly wrapped around her wrist, uncommon enough for her. Shinra smiled.

"Well, what I'm saying is…she already seems to have taken a liking to him. It's better than sending her to live off with some old business relation or worse, turning her loose on the streets. Besides, Shizuo lives alone. What's a little company going to do to him?"

Celty slapped Shinra's hand away and rubbed her wrist, as though he'd been holding on too hard. "I don't know…I just…don't like this." She typed. "I can't see anything good coming of it."

"The only other option is having her stay with us."

For a long several minutes, there was silence. Celty was stiff, not moving. She looked thoughtful, even, thinking through the options of the situation and trying to figure out which one was the worst. And suddenly she was furious. Billows of smoke erupted from where her head would have been, so much so that they seeped out of the visor of the helmet still on her head.

"I don't get it. What's wrong, Celty darling?" Shinra asked, concerned. He knew that she and Shizuo had a special kind of friendship. They just had a lot in common because of the way they were…Celty felt like she could relate to him, Shinra guessed. But why then was she so angry?

"Look, I'm sorry." She said, thrusting the phone screen in his face and adjusting her helmet with her other hand. "I just have a bad feeling about this. But you're right. We have no other choice. Just don't think I'm going to be the one to tell Shizuo he's going to have a house guest." She typed quickly. "I'm going to be in the other room. Tell me when you have all this settled."

Shinra nodded. "That sounds best." As she turned and started into the other room, Shinra called after her, "And maybe later we can go on a walk around the town! Catch up with each other!"

Shizuo woke up under a mess of brown curls accompanied by an alarmingly warm body. At first his vision was hazy and he couldn't see straight, so when he blinked and opened his eyes, he didn't realize what was on top of him. But the sudden gasp and sound of scrambling hands told Shinra that he had noticed the sleeping girl at his side.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Shizuo." Shinra said, setting down his book once again and turning to his old high school friend with a grin.

Shizuo sat up slowly, grasping his head and glaring back at Yuuka, who had slipped into the indentation in the sofa he had made comfortably. She was breathing soft, quick breaths. She looked peaceful. "I feel like shit." He growled, then looked down and inspected the bandages wrapped around his waist. There were spots of red soaking through the white cloth in some places. He felt at his rib cage and instantly regretted it. "…I guess that would be why." Shizuo groaned.

"You should be more careful, Shizuo. You wouldn't want to worry that pretty young lady there." Shinra nodded to Yuuka.

Shizuo glanced at her briefly as he grabbed his still-cracked sunglasses off the side table and put them on. They rested crookedly on his face but that didn't matter. He felt a lot more comfortable when he saw the world through hazed blue anyways. Couldn't really say why.

"Why is she still here?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"She wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, well I'm okay."

"What was it about this time?"

"What was what about?" Shizuo's eyes shifted up to Shinra's, not looking amused.

"You and Izaya. Though I guess you guys don't really need a reason anymore."  
"Shut up." Shizuo sighed. "Don't talk about that pest right now."

"Oh, and by the way…" Shinra yawned. It was about midnight.

Shizuo looked up tiredly. "_What_?" He asked, in the kind of voice that told you he wanted something to die.

"That girl…Yuuka. Well, I need you to do me a favor and it has to do with her."

Shinra proceeded to explain to Shizuo the situation and why he needed Yuuka Fukashima to stay with him so badly. "It'll only be a temporary arrangement. For now, though, she's going to school in the area and she needs a place to stay. Think of this as your way of paying me back for patching you up."

"You never charge me."

"Right. So considering how often you come to my place covered in blood with the complaint that you and Izaya got at it again, I'd say you've run up a pretty big tab."

Shizuo leant forward and grabbed Shinra by the collar of his shirt, standing so that the scrawny doctor was lifted a few feet off the ground—he was a lot shorter than Shizuo. "If you don't stop talking, I think it's you who's going to have to worry about being covered in blood." Shizuo growled menacingly.

Shinra gasped for air. "S-Sorry, Shizuo, I was way out of line, what I meant to say was…S-Shizuo, I c-can't b-breathe…"

From behind, Shizuo could hear rustling. He was still holding Shinra in the air, and Shinra was still begging for air, but in the middle of it, Shizuo tilted his head, trying to figure out what that sound was. And then he heard a yawn.

He turned around slowly, Shinra dangling from his fist, to see Yuuka sitting up on the sofa, rubbing her eyes and blinking at him. Shizuo's eyes went slightly wide. He dropped a panting, wheezing Shinra to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets angrily, as if annoyed to have been caught in the act by a child. Yuuka just frowned at him and shook her head, still not fully awake. "Shi-Shizuo?" She asked, looking to her side, wondering how he'd gotten all the way over there from the sofa since she'd last checked. "…did," her eyes went wide. "I fall asleep?"

Shizuo just stared at her. Still a little fuzzy, she didn't understand what was so wrong. She watched Shinra get to his feet weakly. "Cousin Shinra?" She just noticed how pale he looked. She leapt from the sofa, running to his side. "Did something happen? Are you okay? You look really out of breath."

"No, I'm fine." He laughed it off, glancing at Shizuo out of the corner of his eyes. "Really, Yuuka, don't worry about me."  
Shizuo didn't understand this girl. Hovering over everyone's problems like they were her own. How exhausting it must be, worrying over everyone else when she didn't even have a place to stay.

He sighed a long, tired sigh and scratched the back of his head, fingers weaving through shaggy blonde hair. "Fine."

Shinra looked up, stunned. "What?"

Shizuo nodded slowly. "For now."

Yuuka blinked. "Fine what?" She looked between Shizuo and Shinra, confused. "Did something happen while I was asleep?"

Shizuo adjusted his sunglasses and started for the door, wavering only slightly in his step, ignoring the pain that came with taking long strides. "You, kid." He nodded to Yuuka casually. "You're with me."

"What?"

"Am I not speaking loud enough for you two?" Shizuo asked, exasperated. "Come with me, kid."

"You're going to be staying with Shizuo for a little while, okay, Yuuka?" Shinra asked, following them to the door.

The still sleepy girl nodded slowly, shrugging. She wasn't against the idea. She liked Shizuo. However, she didn't know him, and the idea of living with the man was a lot to take in. She was too tired to think about it much before just accepting what her cousin was telling her. She rubbed her eyes again and stumbled after Shizuo. "O-Okay…"

Shizuo started down the hall and towards the elevator. "Hurry up." was all he said to her as she sleepily marched after him.

"Bye, cousin Shinra…" She waved to the doctor and then disappeared into the elevator, the blonde headed bartender patiently waiting.


	4. Chapter 4: Chaos's House

Here's chapter 4...tell me if you think the story is going a little slowly. I try to move along more quickly than that but I get stuck on all the little moments of the story and end up getting over descriptive. Tell me what you think and thanks for all the feedback so far! You guys are great. :)

Chapter 4

Chaos's House

Shizuo unlocked the door to his apartment and stood awkwardly in the doorway while Yuuka followed him in, dropping her small bag of belongings by the door and asking simply, "Where do I sleep?"

He prepared to follow her in, but tripped over something small and plastic on the ground on his door mat. He looked down, surprised and annoyed. It was a small box of strawberries.

…and suddenly Shizuo remembered. Remembered what had started all of this.

Yuuka standing in his living room and staring at him in confusion, he stooped to the floor and picked up the box. He stormed into the apartment and threw the box across the room. It hit the opposite wall, just a foot above Yuuka's head. She flinched, folding her hands together nervously. "M-Mr. Shizuo? Is something wrong?"

"Damn Izaya! I'll kill that bastard!" He stood there, his hands in fists, breathing hard for a minute or two and staring at the crumpled box that now lie on the floor. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. _Damn, I'm tired. Calm down. Just sleep it off, Shizuo..._, he thought through his anger. "Damn him…"

"Do you not like strawberries?"

His eyes snapped open. "E-Eh…" He wasn't sure how to react to that. Finally, though, Shizuo shook his head and glared. "I…" He picked up the strawberries from the floor and fingered the plastic box thoughtfully. "I don't mind them." He muttered, and then shook his head furiously. "But I don't need them from that asshole, Izaya!"

He sighed. It was nearing 2 in the morning. Now was not the time. He set the strawberries down on the kitchen table and scrubbed a hand down his face. "Look…" Shizuo lived alone, and had for a long time, and sine he rarely had visitors, he'd never had a need for a second bed. The closest thing he had to a guest bedroom was the sofa. He pointed to it, shrugging. "You okay with sleeping on the couch?"

Yuuka nodded and sat down while Shizuo got a blanket and pillow from the back room. When he returned, she had already laid down and fallen asleep. Fully dressed. With her shoes still on.

…this girl was a strange one. But shouldn't he have expected as much by now? If she was the kind of person to just show up in a town she'd never been to before with hardly any forethought and equally few belongings, she didn't really strike him as the kind to go so far as to bring pajamas. So, grumbling to himself, he slipped her shoes off and laid the blanket over her, leaving the pillow on the sofa for her to find if she woke up. "I should probably get some sleep, too, before the sun comes up." He mumbled to himself, turning off the living room light and padding off to his room to get changed.

He stopped short just of the hallway, still feeling a strange pain in his side. Shizuo narrowed his eyes. Damn, that Izaya…

In her sleep, Yuuka turned over, grabbing onto the pillow he'd left and pulling it close to her, digging her face into it slowly. He shook his head.

The next morning, Yuuka woke up to find the TV on, playing a news report. Shizuo was sitting at his dining room table, downing a bowl of cereal tiredly. She sat up and yawned, rubbing her eyes. Shizuo hardly looked up. He had dark circles under his eyes. He took bites of cereal sluggishly. She noticed it had strawberries in it but said nothing. He didn't look like he wanted to talk about it.

He was wearing casual pants and a t-shirt. He looked nothing like he did in his formal bartenders uniform. She…wasn't sure what to think of this version of Shizuo. Not quite so threatening. Yet rougher. Less refined. As though there was a certain air he put about himself while in public. A certain reputation he lived up to. And apparently there was…

"…what time is it?" She mumbled.

He blinked. "7 o'clock."

Her eyes went wide. "Why are you up this early? When did you go to bed?"

He turned and started at her with dead looking eyes. She flinched slightly under his glare. He looked like he wanted to throw something. "I have work. How did you think I earn my money, kid? It doesn't come out of nowhere. I ain't no charity case."

"I…" She pushed the blanket off of her, staring at it suddenly in confusion. Since when had that been there? Had he put that there, she wondered? "You have a nice home, Heiwajima-san. It's neater than I thought it would be."

His eyes flared. "What does that mean?!"

"You're a chaotic person." She said, looking into his eyes emotionlessly. She had a calculating look that Shizuo didn't like. "There's unrest in your personality. I just didn't think that would translate into organized housekeeping skills."

He went back to eating his breakfast, sticking a strawberry into his mouth with his eyes closed. "Whatever…"

She kicked her feet back and forth against the edge of the sofa thoughtfully. And suddenly her eyes went wide. "Hey, I should get my pictures developed…" she eyed her camera.

He coughed. "I got things to do, kid. If you think I'm taking you to some store, you're mistaken."

"Oh, I-I…that's not what I meant. I was just thinking out loud." She said, shyly, wondering how she'd upset him. "Do you know where I could go, though? I can always call a taxi, or walk…"

He glared at her and shrugged. "I'm not a map."

Yuuka's revised opinion of Shizuo? He was grumpy and sociopathic with a short fuse and mad street fighting skills. In short, unrefined and untamed. But there was something promising that she saw in him. She couldn't explain it, exactly. There was just something she was drawn to, she realized as she watched him eat his breakfast calmly, golden hair hanging in his face, a look of irritation in his eyes. Suddenly Shizuo looked up at her, his eyes flashing—he almost looked scarier without his sunglasses on. She flinched. "What?"  
"I guess you must be hungry, right? And that means I have to feed you, right?"

She stared at him, face pale. A small growl sounded from Yuuka's stomach, causing a blush to cross her face. "I guess I am a little hungry…"  
He stood up slowly, tramped over to the toaster and grabbed a couple pieces of bread out of the fridge. "You like toast, don't you? What am I saying? Who doesn't like toast?" He grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

"U-Um…yeah, I like toast."

When it was ready, he sloppily spread butter onto the two pieces and thrust them in Yuuka's direction, nodding to a seat across him at the table. She sat down nervously and started eating. He continued to take bites of his cereal, eyes closed, a permanent frown planted on his face. "U-Um…" she said, putting her toast down. "Mr. Heiwajima-san, did I do something to upset you?"

He looked up at her in surprise. "What?"

"You seem really mad at me about something. Did I anger you?"

"Why would you say that?" He grumbled, going back to eating.

"W-Well…it's just that…" She looked at the ground, pale. She wasn't sure if she could bring herself to say what she was thinking. Besides, Shizuo didn't look like he was in any mood to talk. The rings under his eyes concerned her. She was brought back to the events of the previous night and the horrible condition he'd been in. Of course he had a right to be in a mood after that. "Nothing. Forget I said anything." She said, consenting to silent worry.

At around noon, there was a knock on the door. Shizuo had fallen back asleep on the sofa, his legs stretched out, his head tilted back, a soft snore escaping his lips. Yuuka sat and watched TV awkwardly, nearly leaping out of her skin when the door bell rang. After the sixth ring, Yuuka looked at Shizuo uncomfortably and asked, "Should I get it?" He blinked and cursed under his breath, then stood and got to the door just as there was the sound of impatient knocking on the other side.

Behind the door was a dark skinned man with choppy dreadlocks wearing a suit. He looked annoyed at being forced to wait but his eyes went wide when he saw Shizuo. "Shizuo! Man! What happened?"

Shizuo looked slightly surprised that the guy was worried about him, but shrugged. "I got run over by a bus." He waved him away. "Don't worry about it."

"A bus? Dude, that's not cool, are you okay? You look like shit!"

Shizuo's eyes went narrow and he grinned psychotically. "Hey, Tom, wanna go through my living room window?"

Yuuka's eyes went wide. Was Shizuo being serious? She knew, not just from having met him but from the rumors that spread through the city like wildfire, that he was an extremely violent person. But this guy was obviously a friend. She had to help him, she realized, as Shizuo's hands went into white-knuckle fists. She ran to Shizuo's side and grabbed his arm, pulling it away. "You can't do that, Mr. Heiwajima-san! You'll kill him!"

Shizuo stared down at Yuuka, his eyes wide with shock. Tom staggered back, equally in surprise. Tom, of course, hadn't been very taken aback by Shizuo's threat. Shizuo threatened people all the time and Tom knew he had nothing to worry about from the man. He was Shizuo's friend. He was the source of Shizuo's income and without him, Shizuo would have been on the street long ago. The ex-bartender knew that, violent though he was. Threatening Tom was just his way of venting. So when he realized what had just happened, he was in a state of confusion.

One, what was this girl doing in Shizuo's apartment? Two, who did she think she was, trying to stop Shizuo from doing something he wanted to do? Three, what was Shizuo going to do about it? His eyes went wide. He stepped between the two—Shizuo, breathing hard and glaring at the girl, and the girl, looking at him intently, still with the idea that she was saving Tom's life or something.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Tom suddenly stepped in between the two, pushing Yuuka back and raising his hands to Shizuo's dilated eyes. "Time out." He ordered. "What's going on here? Who are you?" He asked, glaring at Yuuka as Shizuo's heavy breathing could be heard in the background.

Yuuka stared, in shock. She might be vaguely aware of Tom's presence, but her eyes were locked into a deadly staring contest with Shizuo. Tom sighed and put a hand on Yuuka's shoulder. "Excuse us, Shizuo." He pushed Yuuka out of the apartment's open front door and shut it behind them so that they were alone in the hallway. Yuuka stumbled back and hit the wall. Tom leant against the opposite one, shaking his head, suddenly a lot more relaxed now that he and Shizuo were separated by a door. "Who are you and what are you doing at Shizuo's house?"

Once Yuuka had calmed down a bit, she finally regained her voice and managed. "…m-my name is Yuuka Fukashima. And…it's a long story."

"Try me."

Yuuka took a deep breath and told him the events of the past day. By the time she was finished explaining, Tom was leaning forward, rubbing his forehead. Yuuka sighed. "I did something wrong, didn't I? You're mad at me, too, aren't you?"

"You shouldn't take it personally from Shizuo. He gets mad at most people for no reason. Anyways, look, there's something you should understand." He said, looking her in the eyes. "Don't try to force Shizuo into doing something he doesn't want to do. Otherwise, he'll pretty much be cool with you. And don't worry about me. Shizuo and I have been tight for a long time. Shizuo's threats don't mean nothing to me."

"B-But…"

"But nothing. Just chill and you'll be fine, okay? Now me and Shizuo have to hit the road. We've got work to do."

Yuuka tilted her head curiously. "Um, I hope you don't mind my asking, but what is Shizuo's job?" She didn't want to admit it, but she was very curious just as to how someone as chaotic as Shizuo kept a job steadily. Shizuo acted on impulse. And he threw whoever pissed him off. Somebody like that didn't belong in an office or in public relations of any kind. She was still trying to think of a job that might fit him.

Tom stopped and look at her just before re-opening the door to Shizuo's apartment. "Shizuo? He's the muscle."


	5. Chapter 5: The Monster of Ikebukuro

**Chapter 5**

**The Monster of Ikebukuro**

Yuuka couldn't believe it. Shizuo had locked her in the apartment. Alone. He'd just left her like that, while he'd gone off to his work.

It wasn't as though she'd expected anything different. Anyways, what was she going to do? Go with him? But it was the way that he told her he was leaving her that bothered her. He trudged into the back room and emerged a few minutes later dressed in full bartender attire. He flicked his shades on and stood up to his full height, rearing his head at her and wearing a blank expression. "I'm going with Tom. Stay here until I get back, kid."

She pouted a little at him. "But I have places to go."

"…stay here."

"B-But…"  
And suddenly the door was shutting. She ran to stop him just as the knob was turning and the sound of keys jangled, sealing her fate. She wrapped her hands around the door knob and pulled furiously. "Mr. Heiwajima! Hey! Open this door!" She kicked the door angrily but there was only silence. Footsteps followed and them Shizuo and Tom were gone.

* * *

She sat there for a few minutes, sulking. They were right. This Shizuo guy was mean. He had no respect for guests and then he just proceeded to leave them alone for however long in his apartment with no way out. Then she looked up, realizing she was alone in _Shizuo Heiwajiima's_ apartment. That meant she had free roam of the house. A small smile formed on her face.

I mean, she couldn't help but be curious about a mysterious man that she'd heard so much about since arriving in Ikebukuro.

Yuuka rummaged through the living room, though all she found in there of interest was a few movies strewn around near the TV, and when she searched the kitchen the only thing out of the ordinary that she noticed was an abnormally high amount of dairy products in the fridge, primarily milk…what, did this guy have a calcium deficiency or something?

She walked to the radio and turned on some music. Shizuo's taste in music was…actually rather interesting. Mostly, it was rock music about rebels being angry at the world, which she found kind of ironic. She danced down the hall, humming the tune of "Desperate" by David Archuleta, and stopped short in the doorway to Shizuo's room.

Pushing the door in, she found that Shizuo's room was actually an extremely organized place. The room was clean and the bed was made. There were a couple of unread looking books sitting on a shelf. It looked like an average adult's bedroom, in fact. But then, why wouldn't it be? The only thing that struck her as odd were the accessories. Shizuo had a poster on his wall showing a field of strawberries. His curtains had pictures of strawberries on them. His lamp was in the shape of a large, red strawberry.

She didn't understand him at all…

She stopped short and looked down at his bedside table. There was a bottle of painkillers and below that a half open drawer showed that he had about ten or fifteen more bottles just like it. What was that about?! Where did he get all of it? There was no way you could get that many prescription painkillers at one time legally. Dosages that big would kill any normal human.

Yuuka looked grimly at the garbage can in the corner of the room. In it were crumbled, bloody bandages and next to it was a new, clean roll that he'd probably used to fix himself up that morning.

…did this happen more often than Yuuka thought?  
At last, she turned to the closet. What other secrets could the mysterious Shizuo Heiwajima be hiding in there? She pulled the sliding glass door open to reveal a long row of bartender's uniforms. Her eyes went wide. There must have been 20 of them…each one exactly the same. And next to them was a box full of blue sunglasses.

Yuuka staggered back, a little confused. Who was Shizuo Heiwajima? Some kind of obsessive sociopath who had a problem with expanding his wardrobe? And what kind of life did he live that he needed unhealthy amounts of painkillers in his room?

That was it. She needed to get out and about. Enough of sitting in the apartment like this. She walked into the living room, grabbed her camera and looked again at the door. No way was she getting out of there. Sure, it was only locked, and under normal circumstances, of course she could have unlocked it from the inside, but Shizuo must have been extremely paranoid or something because he had bars on his door and he'd closed those when he left so that even from the inside, his front door was impenetrable.

However, Yuuka knew how to get past that. She put her camera around her neck and walked calmly to Shizuo's bedroom window. Outside of it, sure enough, was a small platform with stairs leading down. A fire escape. This would do nicely, she thought to herself, climbing out of the window and putting her face into the wind with a smile. _This is better_, she thought. _And I'll be back soon enough that Heiwajima-san won't even know what hit him._

* * *

Yuuka was walking down the street, looking down at her camera and thinking about all the pictures she was going to print. She had taken a lot of pictures. After all, before school started, she was simply here as a tourist. And Ikebukuro was an exciting city. She couldn't wait to see how the film had developed…a small frown crossed her face, thinking back to how her and Shizuo had met. How his injuries were her fault. She had to find some way to make up for that. Maybe that was why he was mad at her. Because she had just met the guy and in the first five minutes had managed to get him run over by a bus.

Suddenly she felt a body up against hers and staggered back, her face red with surprise. A tall man stood towering over her. He had dark skin and wore a white uniform and matching cloth cap. He smiled down at her with warm eyes. "You like sushi? You in right place!"

Yuuka's jaw dropped in shock. She fell back, almost falling into the road in surprise. In fact, she would have if the man hadn't reached his arm out and grabbed her, yanking her out of the street and towards him in one large jerk of his arm. "You no be scared, da? Sushi no kill you, I promise!"  
She gulped. He was tall, obviously strong and dangerous looking, but hey, he didn't _act_ like a serial killer, right? Serial killers didn't usually rant about sushi in Russian accents while holding up signs for some restaurant. He was probably just an overly friendly store employee trying to earn a new customer, right? Or maybe that was what she was supposed to think… "W-Who are you?"

"Simon, da?"

"Simon? Are you Russian?" She asked, utterly confused, as he looked pure-blood African but he had the accent of a native Russian.

"Half." He was grinning at her. Yep, definitely not a serial killer in disguise. She smiled brightly and put her hand out.

"I'm Yuuka. It's…nice to meet you."  
"You like sushi. Sushi good. Sushi cheap."

She started heading back down the street, switching into a jog. "Sorry, I'm broke! But sushi is good! I promise I'll come back later once I have a job and don't have to mooch off of people for my meals." She stopped, tilting her head curiously. "Can I take a picture of you?"

Simon stared at her, thinking it over. "I no see why not." He said, rubbing the back of his head. She waited until he'd set his sign down and smiled for the camera, and then took the picture. "Thanks a bunch, Simon!" And with that, she left him waving and ran in the opposite direction.

Yuuka walked until she found a small shop where she could get her pictures developed. Quietly, respecting the other customers, she had them printed, waiting at the chair beside the machine. She wondered what Shizuo would think once he got home and realized that locking the door had had no effect on her. She wondered when he'd even get home. How long did his work last?

And what did Tom mean when he said Shizuo was the muscle? He'd never explained that.

When her pictures were done, she paid the cashier and took the envelope. She opened it on her way out, holding it above the camera hanging from her neck. In her pictures, she saw views of all of Ikebukuro that she'd seen. Pictures of it from the air, that she'd taken from the plane she'd flown in on. Pictures of the streets. Of that Simon guy she'd met just earlier that day.

Getting solemn all of a sudden, she came across the ones she'd taken the other day, of Shizuo's fight with Izaya. She stopped, pulling out from the pile the picture whose flash had blinded him, enabling Izaya to lure him into the road like that.

The look on Shizuo's face when she took that picture was completely unlike any look she'd ever seen him make. It was one of surprise, a blank look in his dark brown eyes. The anger gone, the hate temporarily replaced by a startled search for balance.

Silently, Yuuka thought that there was definitely something more to this man than violence and muscle. Even if nobody else seemed to think agree.

She was still thinking this as she stepped out of the store, holding the photo in front of her face. Suddenly she became aware of the sound of crashing metal and a voice yelling in a low growl, an almost inhuman roar, really.

Yuuka's eyes went wide. She looked up. Above the photo she held in her now shaking hands stood the real thing. Above the picture of Shizuo Heiwajima's surprised face, his eyes narrowed at a man standing in front of her, his mouth gaping. "You disgust me!" He screamed, and looked around frantically for something to throw. His blonde hair shook in the light of sunset. His glasses reflected, casting dark shadows over his face.

She gasped, wide eyed.

He looked to his side, eyes flaring, and picked up an ATM that was bolted to the ground. He bent over, curling his hands around the bottom and it was as if he was lifting a box full of stuffing when in reality, Yuuka could hear the metal of the ATM bending and screeching, the bolts snapping out of place. He lifted it above his head, eyes locked onto the man, who was standing like a deer in headlights. Shizuo breathed heavily. He chucked the ATM over his head. The man was able to run out of the way at the last second, just missing the hunk of metal coming towards him.

Yuuka went pale when she realized that next in line was her. It was coming for her next. It was still flying through the air, and it was on a deadest course. At the last moment, Shizuo's eyes went wide. Yuuka screamed.

She closed her eyes, jumping out of the way. She felt the ATM clip her shoulder. She'd never make it out of the way in time.

Then a hand wrapped around her arm. It yanked her out of the way. Yuuka felt herself falling into someone's arms.

In the background, the ATM landed, crashing into the store's glass wall and causing a deafening shattering noise. Yuuka looked up to see Tom's stunned face. "Are you okay, young lady?" He asked.

There were small tears in her eyes. It was an experience that would shatter anyone. But it left her in a state of temporary shock. She'd almost been crushed. She could have died, right then, crushed between bent metal and broken glass.

"I…I…" She gasped, trying to regain her breath, though it only resulted in her hyperventilating, her breaths fast and short.

The pictures she had just printed had gone flying everywhere when she was hit. They lay strewn all over the ground. Shizuo's pictures was all she saw, though, looking up. Not the look of surprise. But the look of fury and anger she had captured as he did everything he could to crush Izaya Orihara with his hands, so sure as they made paper mache out of public property.

One picture lay crushed under the ATM, ripped and torn by the metal that dug into the concrete ground. It was a picture she'd taken of him while he was sleeping at Shinra's house.

He'd looked so peaceful then. Now, that face was hidden by dented metal.

And there stood Shizuo, in the midst of it all.

His hands were no longer in fists. They were shaking. His eyes were wide, his face pale. He looked around at all the pictures on the ground.

Yuuka tried to get up out of Tom's grip, but when she put weight on her right arm, a pain shot through it and she gasped and fell forward. Tom caught her. "Hey…"

Shizuo looked up at her slowly. His bangs no longer hid his eyes from her view.

They were blank.

Shizuo turned and ran.

Yuuka could hear the pounding of his formal shoes over the shocked cries from inside the shop, and Tom's whispers in her ear. "Yuuka, don't worry, everything is going to be fine. You're okay now…"

She couldn't believe her eyes.

So this was the monster of Ikebukuro.


End file.
